A tale of musical friends

1,500 gigs and counting…

For the past four years The Bookstore Band has put on wild performances every single night at Hús Máls og Menningar, a pre-historic bookstore on Reykjavík’s bustling main street. Once a gathering place for Iceland’s Nobel laureates and literary elite, the venue has since transformed into a glorious hubbub of laughter, dancing, and international confusion - a gathering place for travellers passing through Iceland looking for a fun night out… and very much finding it.

“Mama… ooOOooOOO!”

Each evening at 8pm, the band launches into a three-hour avalanche of Greatest Hits and songs you forgot you loved. Think guilty pleasures. Within minutes the room fills with hundreds of guests singing along while the dance floor enters a mild state of emergency, overwhelming local introverts. Conga lines form like rivulets in rain, and people from all over the world briefly become fluent in Italian during Bohemian Rhapsody.

“Do you really want to hurt me…”

But The Bookstore Band is more than just a live act - it’s a musical community. With a rotating lineup of seven core members and an extensive network of talented musical mercenaries, the band keeps every show fresh, high-energy, and unforgettable.

In recent years, the band has been increasingly hired outside the bookstore, performing at weddings, private parties, and corporate events. Due to increasing demand, the band now frequently performs in two (or more!) locations simultaneously - something science still struggles to explain.

The band also gets booked for international gigs and has performed in exotic places such as Dubai and Antarctica. The penguins remained largely indifferent.

A motley crew

  • The band’s leader, drummer Ingólfur Sigurðsson, is a dad joke extraordinaire and Icelandic pop legend who has kept time with some of the country’s biggest stars since the late ’80s. Hint: you may want to get his autograph after the show.

  • Marína Ósk Þórólfsdóttir is a two-time Icelandic Music Awards-winning singer whose voice can be heard throughout the Icelandic musical ecosystem, on international soundtracks, and quite possibly your future wedding.

  • Ragnar Ólafsson (yes, Ragnar is his real name) is a musical chameleon who composes soundtracks, writes books, and tours the world with folk giants Árstíðir. Despite the name, he still hasn’t seen the TV series Vikings.

  • Guitarist Kjartan Baldursson is the envy of both men and women, and the natural focal point of every show. Playing guitar behind his head while simultaneously wiggling his butt, he somehow puts the “oh” in “virtuoso.”

  • An air traffic controller by day, guitarist Lárus Magnússon is probably the reason your plane landed safely when you flew into Iceland. Voted the county’s Most Handsome Man three consecutive years in a row, he’s also the reason you may end up extending your stay.

  • Part bass player and part mad professor, Ingólfur Magnússon brings much-needed rigour to the otherwise unhinged energy of The Bookstore Band’s live performances. He also sports some of Iceland’s best hair.

  • Known throughout Iceland as Mr Butterhips, bass player Brynjar Páll Björnsson is everyone’s favourite session musician, and living proof that cod liver oil is Iceland’s secret to dancing, as well as longevity.